Game 1, Standard

Matignon starts off with Scalding Tarn, matched by Seachrome Coast for Brad Nelson. Matignon searches up an Island, shuffles up his deck, and presents it to Brad Nelson to shuffle and cut himself. Matignon drops a Mountain and tries to play Sphere of the Suns, waiting for Nelson to signal a Spell Pierce or not. Brad Nelson has no response and plays a Squadron Hawk (with Seachrome Coast #2) on his turn. "Caw! Caw!" Are the calls of the two Hawks he searched up.

Matignon answers with Tectonic Edge and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Sick turn 3 play. He activates the +1 Loyalty, netting Prophetic Prism. Nelson attacks Tezzeret back down to 3 with Squadron Hawk, casting Hawk #2 and playing Celestial Colonnade.

Matignon casts the Prophetic Prism from last turn, then Pyroclasms the two Squadron Hawks away. Tezzeret turns Sphere of the Suns into a 5/5 beater and takes Nelson down to 15 in the first game of the Player of the Year playoff.

Nelson untaps and surveys his options. He pauses, shuffles the cards around in his hand, and Matignon holds his head as Brad quickly drops an Island and two Squadron Hawks before passing the turn.

Matignon untaps, Pyroclasms, and Brad Nelson scoops up his cards for a very, very quick game 1.

Please check back here for coverage of the rest of the match!

1-0, Guillaume Matignon

Game 2, Standard

Turn 1 Preordain from Guillaume Matignon was countered by Brad Nelson's Spell Pierce. Nelson plays a Ratchet Bomb on turn 2, matched by Matignon with a Sphere of the Suns on his turn 2. Nelson puts a charge counter on his Ratchet Bomb, lays a Marsh Flats, and passes the turn.

Matignon thinks for a moment and casts Preordain off of Darkslick Shores, with Blackcleave Cliffs back untapped. Brad thinks for a moment of his own and Mana Leaks the Preordain. Matignon has no land and simply plays Everflowing Chalice. Nelson responds with the second charge counter on Ratchet Bomb and searches his library with Marsh Flats for a Plains.

Nelson's play on his turn is Squadron Hawk off of Plains and Tectonic Edge, searching up three more birds before passing the turn back.

Matignon untaps, draws a card, and stops to think. About 15 seconds later, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas goes from Matignon's hand, to the tabletop, to the graveyard thanks to Spell Pierce. With no other mana at his disposal, Nelson gets another crack at the Frenchman.

Nelson thinks for a few moments about his turn, then attacks with Squadron Hawk. 19-19. The American does not appear to have a fourth land, whereas Matignon is stuck on 2 lands himself. Brad finally finishes off his turn with Ratchet Bomb to take out the Sphere of the Suns and a Divine Offering on the Everflowing Chalice.

Matignon untaps, topdecks a Creeping Tar Pit, and plays a Prophetic Prism. Brad Nelson, given another chance to hit land #4, spikes an Island for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and a Brainstorm.

Matignon untaps and kills Jace with his Creeping Tar Pit. Planeswalkers are not long for this world! Thankfully for Nelson, he has another Squadron Hawk to follow up on his next turn. A Celestial Colonnade leaves Nelson with Mana Leak mana available to face Matignon's relatively empty board.

Matignon untaps, Preordains, and gets to Scry. Both cards get scryed to the bottom, and Matignon draws his replacement. His board is now 2 Creeping Tar Pits, 2 Island, 1 Blackcleave Cliffs, and Prophetic Prism against Brad Nelson's Squadron Hawk, 2 Island, 1 Plains, 1 Celestial Colonnade, and Tectonic Edge. Brad Nelson untaps and surveys his options. Still thinking. He groups his lands in a couple different ways before leaving them alone and attacking for 1. 18-19 in favor of the American before the Tectonic Edge takes out a Creeping Tar Pit and another Squadron Hawk joins the field.

Matignon draws Tectonic Edge for his turn and tries a Pyroclasm quite gingerly. Nelson just scoops up his birds and bins them. With 5 lands each, the board slightly favours Matignon here. Nelson plays another Squadron Hawk and passes back again.

Matignon simply draws a Creeping Tar Pit and passes the turn back.

Brad Nelson, as he has been want to do this matchup, takes a few moments for his turn before trying a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Nope, Stoic Rebuttal. Brad Nelson pauses to sacrific Scalding Tarn for an Island, and answers with his own Mana Leak. Jace, the Mind Sculptor hits play again and goes to 5 loyalty with a Fateseal on Guillaume.

Guillaume untaps against a tapped-out Brad Nelson. He shifts around his lands slightly before animating a Creeping Tar Pit and taking Jace down to 2 loyalty. Brad Nelson gets another crack at his library, with an active Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and chooses to Brainstorm this time. Brainstorm finds Gideon Jura, and Jace appears to be temporarily safe unless Matignon has a Stoic Rebuttal.

Does he have it? Matignon immediately goes to his library to search up an Island with Scalding Tarn. Stoic Rebuttal it is! Squadron Hawk hits the Frenchman again to make the score 18-16 in favor of Nelson. I have a feeling Jace is not long for this world.

Matignon untaps, animates his Creeping Tar Pit, and sends another Jace to the graveyard. Nelson then responds by running a Stoneforge Mystic into another Stoic Rebuttal. Squadron Hawk again hits for 1, 18-15.

Guillaume Matignon haws another Prophetic Prism to cycle and attacks Brad Nelson finally with the Creeping Tar Pit directly, promting Brad Nelson to crack back with a manland of his own into Matignon's Tectonic Edge. After all of that, we're left with Brad Nelson at 15 and Guillaume Matignon at 13. The race is on.

Tumble Magnet comes down for Matignon, which gets met with another Divine Offering. Brad Nelson has 1 card left in hand, which turns out to be Stoneforge Mystic searching for Sword of Body and Mind. It gets equipped to a Squadron Hawk and the bird gets in there for 3 more. 15-10 Nelson.

Guillaume Matignon surveys his situation as it deteriorates turn-by-turn. He appears to have two cards in hand to Nelson's empty grip before casting Pyroclasm to kill the lone Stoneforge Mystic. Creeping Tar Pit looks puny by comparison to Brad Nelson's answer of Celestial Colonnade + Squadron Hawk/Sword of Body and Mind. Matignon falls to 3 and this game looks to be in hand for the American. Brad Nelson switches the equipment to his Wolf token and Guillaume scoops up his cards.

1-1

Check back later for the next round!

Game 3, "Super Sealed"

Both players lead with a Swamp, and Brad Nelson's Necropede gets Disfigured. Matignon plays a Sylvok Replica on his third turn, which is matched by... nothing by Brad Nelson. Virulent Wound stops Brad Nelson from getting smashed by Blackcleave Goblin, and Sylvok Replica gets in for 1. Brad Nelson gets his second Forest and passes the turn.

Matignon swings for 1, 20-18, and plays down a Tumble Magnet and another Swamp. Nelson draws another nonland card, but Contagion Clasp comes down on the Sylvok Replica. The fourth land for Nelson enables a Corpse Cur for Necropede.

Guillaume trades Sylvok Replica for Corpse Cur, and then casts Morbid Plunder for Blackcleave Goblin. Nelson's Inkmoth Nexus gives him another threat before playing Necropede.

Tumble Magnet end of turn targets the Necropede and allows Blackcleave Goblin to get in for 2 poison. Sylvok Replica joins him and Brad Nelson gets another turn.

A sequence of plays involving Necropede and Spread the Sickness leave Matignon with 20 life, 2 poison counters, and just a Tumble Magnet on the board. Brad Nelson has an Inkmoth Nexus, Contagion Clasp, and he plays a Trigon of Corruption to the board. Guillaume has no answer and Nelson looks to be in a fairly commanding position. Nelson animates his Nexus and attacks, threatening to take Guillaume Matignon up to 3 poison counters before passing the turn again.

Guillaume draws, shuffles up the cards in his hand, and points his finger at Nelson to pass the turn. Nelson quickly Proliferates with Contagion Clasp before drawing his card. With a full grip, Nelson separates out his lands a bit and reaches his hand over to Matignon's side of the board to count out some math. After all of that, he settles on casting Plague Myr and passing the turn. Matignon stops things there with Tangle Magnet on the Trigon of Corruption at Nelson's end step.

Spread the Sickness is Matignon's answer, targeting the Plague Myr. Proliferate boosts up the Tangle Magnet and adds another poison counter to Brad, making the totals 5 poison for Matignon and 3 poison for Nelson. Brad Nelson taps 6 lands dramatically, stops and pauses, picks up his hand, stops and pauses, then calmly sets down a Carnifex Demon. Unfortunately for Matignon, Nelson gets to untap with his Demon still in pristine (4/4) condition.

Another Corpse Cur from Nelson is the play, targeting the previous Corpse Cur, and Nelson passes the turn back without attacking. Matignon's draw step reveals a Skinrender to take out the Corpse Cur, and Nelson's Proliferate with Contagion Clasp to signal the game will probably end shortly. Brad crosses his arms and sits back to survey the board before spending any mana. Corpse Cur is once again the play for the American.

Guillaume Matignon taps BGG for Glissa, the Traitor, and Brad Nelson picks up Matignon's graveyard immediately to survey. However, Carnifex Demon and Proliferate threaten to end Glissa's life pretty shortly. Matignon hits his 7th poison counter as Nelson, with 3 poison counters himself, untaps for another turn with Carnifex Demon. Nelson Proliferates away Matignon's entire board, and Guillaume scoops up his cards.

2-1, Brad Nelson

Nelson starts out on the draw with Vedalken Anatomist from Matignon.

Brad Nelson slams down an Arrest to stop the Blue creature and lays down a Phyrexian Crusader of his own to threaten Matignon. Trigon of Corruption for Nelson hits the board just before Phyrexian Crusader gets sent back to his hand. Contagion Clasp for Brad once again eliminates Matignon's board prior to Argent Sphinx getting cast for the first time in the match.

Brad Nelson responds with Plague Myr and Phyrexian Crusader, with Matignon responding with a Sky-Eel School (discarding another land), and attacks for 4. Spread the Sickness hits the Sky-Eel School and Matignon creeps up to 6 poison with an active Contagion Clasp. Steel Sabotage on the Trigon of Corruption is Guillaume's answer, leaving Nelson with a grip full of cards and another Arrest for the Argent Sphinx. Guillaume Matignon scoops his cards up for another Brad Nelson victory.

3-1, Brad Nelson

Game 5, "Super Sealed"

Matignon leads off with a Plains and a Mountain, making it the third deck in three games for Matignon. Brad Nelson preemptively answers Matignon's Training Drone with a Culling Dais and gets hit for 2 by Sunspear Shikari. Brad Nelson's Arrest makes for some very awkward training by the Drone, and Matignon casts a Spin Engine and attacks for 2. Priests of Norn hits the board for Brad, threatening to slow the board to a crawl and halt the combat step.

Piston Sledge gets cast and goes straight onto the Sunspear Shikari to make a 5/3 first strike, lifelink beater. Matignon stops the Priests of Norn from blocking and Matignon cracks Nelson down to 8. Priests of Norn attack back for 1 poison, Nelson plays Inkmoth Nexus, and has a Contagion Clasp for the Spin Engine.

Inkmoth Nexus chumpblocks the Shikari before it gets sacrificed to Culling Dais. Galvanic Blast and Burn the Impure for Matignon, with 1 card left in hand, has Nelson down to 5 life before Spread the Sickness ends the Sunspear Shikari's life. Pierce Strider takes Nelson down to a precarious 2 life total before checking the top of his deck. Seeing nothing, he scoops up his cards and we're onto Game 6.

3-2, Brad Nelson

Game 6, Standard

Brad Nelson starts off with two Seachrome Coast to Matignon's Creeping Tar Pit and Darkslick Shores. Matignon casually tosses Sphere of the Suns out on the table before Brad Nelson responds with Divine Offering.

Matignon just has an Island and passes the turn back to Brad Nelson. Tectonic Edge hits the board for the American and the turn shifts back to Matignon.

Draw go leaves Nelson in a positon to play Jace, the Mind Sculptor with Spell Pierce backup for Guillaume's Stoic Rebuttal. Jace hits play! Nelson fateseals Guillaume and ships the card to the bottom of his deck.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor has a bit of an identity crisis and both Planeswalkers die after Matignon plays one of his own. Brad Nelson sets his cards on the table and leans back to think about what to do. Two Tectonic Edges sit on his side of the tables, facing off against two Creeping Tar Pits and 3 other lands for Matignon. Gideon Jura is the answer and Matignon only has a Preordain as a response.

Matignon scrys both cards to the bottom, casts another Preordain, and ships both cards again. Tectonic Edge and Tumble Magnet round out Guillaume's turn. Nelson then animates Gideon and swings for 6, Tumble Magnet remaining unused. Elspeth Tirel makes life more difficult for Guillaume as she hits the board for Brad Nelson and makes a trio of 1/1 Soldier tokens.

Four cards for Matignon, two for Nelson. Nelson looks to be in a commanding position here.

Matignon casts Prophetic Prism to cycle before a Creeping Tar Pit takes down Elspeth Tirel.

Tumble Magnet puts a stop to the 6/6 Gideon, but Matignon still takes 3 damage from the Soldier tokens to go to 11 life. Matignon flashes a Pyroclasm or a Slagstorm at the top of his hand, but Jace, the Mind Sculptor gets countered and Pyroclasm gets countered too. Things are not looking good for the Frenchman. Sword of Body and Mind hits the board for Brad Nelson, Tumble Magnet delays the inevitable by a single turn, and Matignon falls to just 6 life. His options are running out here in this match.

Both Tectonic Edges blow up Matignon's Creeping Tar Pits, and Guillaume hunches over the table holding a Stoic Rebuttal at the top of his hand. He's likely got zero outs, and Brad Nelson will be the 2010 Player of the Year.

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas tries to hang on for Guillaume, making a 5/5 Prophetic Prism, but Matignon's board position looks bleak and it shows in his body language.

Brad Nelson enters his attack step, and Matignon declines to use the Tumble Magnet. Brad's attack step takes Matignon down to 4, kills off Tezzeret, but also loses a Wolf token.

Matignon's attack with Prophetic Prism takes Gideon Jura down from 10 loyalty to 5, casts a Tumble Magnet, and ships back the turn with Metalcraft active.

Nelson, for his part, sets his hand down on the table and folds his arms to decide his line of play. To animate Gideon or not appears to be his dilemma. Gideon stays back, and Guillaume taps down the big Soldier and goes to 2 life. Gideon Assassinates the Prophetic Prism and passes the turn.

Creeping Tar Pit destroys Gideon Jura and the turn is Brad's again. Preordain is the first choice, and he scrys 1 to the top and 1 to the bottom. Preordain #2 makes Brad pause as he thinks. A quick look through Guillaume's graveyard, another look through his hand, another look at the top two cards of his library, and another long pause. The graveyard gets flipped through again, and Nelson holds his head in his hands as he ponders his options.The life totals stand 22-2 in favor of Brad as he scrys 1 card to the top and 1 card to the bottom again. The card on top turns out to be Sword of Feast and Famine, which equips up another Soldier token.

Guillaume Matignon holds two Tumble Magnets, one of which having charge, and runs his fingers through his hair as he tries to figure out an answer. Tumble Magnet #3 it is, leaving Stoic Rebuttal as his last card in hand.

Celestial Colonnade is Brad Nelson's play, and Guillaume Matignon draws what might be his last card. Mox Opal hits the board, and this game looks to be over! Brad animates Celestial Colonnade, and Guillaume taps down a creature with the Tumble Magnet. Inkmoth Nexus throws itself in front of a Soldier token, Tectonic Edge takes out the Colonnade, and Ratchet Bomb hits the board for Nelson... or it would if Matignon didn't cast his last card in hand to counter the artifact.

Pyroclasm is ineffective at killing Brad from 18 life, and Prophetic Prism bricks in finding Matignon an unlikely (or impossible) out!

4-2, Brad Nelson

Congratulations to Brad Nelson, the 2010 Magic: the Gathering Player of the Year!